Tata Martino explains why he left Carlos Vela out of Mexico squad | OneFootball

Tata Martino has explained his decision to omit Carlos Vela from his first Mexico squad.

Speaking to the media, Martino said he had spoken with Vela privately before making his decision.

“I had a conversation with him when I went to Los Angeles to promote these games,” said the former Argentina boss.

“I met with Gio [dos Santos], I met with him. I met with Jonathan at the CAR.

“In these conversations with players –  I spoke a lot with Carlos at the All-Star Game in Atlanta as well – we’re not getting to know everything about players in one hour, but you always leave with some conclusions after those types of chats.

“After that, around a month passed and I made my first call-up. Seeing a bit of the chat and seeing a bit of the necessities we have right now, my decision was not to select Carlos Vela.”

Vela captains MLS side LAFC and has had an impressive start to the season, scoring three times in as many games.

The 30-year-old was impressive at last summer’s World Cup too and could yet return to Martino’s plans for this summer’s World Cup.

“We’ll have to see what happens on the way,” Martino added, “and probably chat again with the players in the [Mexican] market and also those playing in Europe because I’d like to share opinions about what they went through in this camp.”

Mexico play Chile in San Diego on Friday night.